{"49017":{"#nid":"49017","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Featured Research and Academics: High Performance Buildings","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe United States Department of Energy reports that forty percent of all energy consumed in the nation is consumed by buildings. A renewed focus on high performance buildings at the Georgia Tech College of Architecture aims to reduce that percentage and meet the rising demand for in-house talent to evaluate the environmental impact of design decisions. Continuing a twenty-five-year trajectory of research leadership, Tech students and faculty are leading the way in digital design, building simulation and architecture\/engineering\/construction integration. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.coa.gatech.edu\/graduate\/phd_arch\/hpb\/index.php\u0022\u003EHigh Performance Buildings PhD concentration \u003C\/a\u003Eand \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.coa.gatech.edu\/graduate\/ms_hpb\/index.php\u0022\u003EPost-Professional Master of Science program\u003C\/a\u003E are developing new knowledge and new tools to inform design and investment decisions. \u201cWe are focusing on quantitative expressions of energy performance,\u201d said Professor Fried Augenbroe in a recent Research Forum, hosted monthly by the College of Architecture. \u201cOur partners can integrate these measures in the development of innovative architectural designs, and streamline the energy saving discussion within the design.\u201d Augenbroe says current methods cannot predict performance with certainty, hence the need for research that shows performance risks to developers and owners. This will lead the way to new energy-saving approaches with the upfront involvement of all stakeholders including the occupants. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAssociate Dean for Research Steve French has already recognized Georgia Tech\u2019s potential to lead nationally in this area. \u201cThese topics that are central to the College of Architecture are currently at the forefront of the research agenda of the nation and the Institute,\u201d he said. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe energy performance standard for Qatar\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nRecently, researchers at Georgia Tech participated in the development of an integral sustainability assessment system for the middle-eastern country of Qatar led by the TC Chan Center at the University of Pennsylvania. The approach provides a more transparent and locally adapted alternative to for instance LEED.  The TC Chan center is led by Dr. Ali Malkawi, one of the first PhD graduates in building technology from Georgia Tech\u2019s College of Architecture.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ECalled the Qatar Sustainability Assessment System (QSAS), the standard has distinct advantages in terms of transparency and robustness.  The Georgia Tech team focused on the development of the energy performance criterion \u201cThe QSAS energy performance calculation is totally normative, which means that there is no wiggle room in its evaluation,\u201d said Augenbroe. \u201cThe building either passes or it does not.\u201d The Qatar construction market is about to adopt the method for country-wide energy performance rating and overall sustainability scoring, effective end of 2009.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe standard follows the CEN-ISO approach, as defined by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The standard defines energy outcomes on five levels: (1) thermal energy needs, (2) delivered energy, (3) primary energy, (4) CO2 emissions, and (5) NOx and SOx emissions. The CEN-ISO approach is very different from the ASHRAE 90.1 and IECC (International Energy Conservation Code) approaches which govern the US market.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETo prepare market introduction, TC Chan researchers, including professor Augenbroe and his students have been running a series of energy standard workshops in Doha, the capital of Qatar.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe economic viability of a zero-energy solar house\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGeorgia Tech\u2019s entry to the 2007 Solar Decathlon House gave the High Performance Building group a working prototype to study the economic viability of such a building. Recent doctoral graduate Huafen Hu focused on the question, \u201cWhat would happen if it were mass produced today?\u201d Hu performed a reliability analysis to quantify the underlying risks in terms of power unavailability and the \u201cdamage\u201d this poses to occupants. The outcomes translate to a trade-off between investment costs and risk, thereby offering the ability to inspect the economic viability of large scale introduction of zero energy solar houses.   \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERecently the Georgia Tech Solar Decathlon House moved to the new Tellus Northwest Georgia Science Museum in Cartersville, Georgia. Tellus became the new home with the help of Green Habitats, Inc., an organization that promotes sustainable building by supporting research and educational programs to design and build housing that conserves water and energy. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOngoing research into the practical application of PV at the residential scale is using Tech\u2019s Solar Decathlon house as a test-bed, to test the feasibility of using captured rainwater for supplemental cooling of PV systems--thus increasing their efficiency.  This research is being led by Profesors Augenbroe and Gentry in collaboration with Miroslav Begovic in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical Engineering and Huafen Hu of Portland State University.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGlobal leadership in simulation\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nMS and Ph.D. students in the High Performance Buildings program of the College of Architecture recently won an international simulation competition to devise a control system for a three-story, open plan office building located in Glasgow, Scotland. The competition was hosted by the England Chapter of the International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA) at its annual conference.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETheir winning entry looked at optimizing solar-assisted natural ventilation with a controlled hybrid ventilation strategy.  Using readily available simulation tools, the proposal explored different combinations of inlet and outlet openings to maximize natural ventilation and to meet required levels of fresh air.  Additionally, the proposal minimized energy consumption by using only mechanical heating and controlling the building inlets based on set temperature.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMost of the approaches and tools addressed above are part of the new MS HPB curriculum--led by Professors Augenbroe, and Russell Gentry along with Minjung Maing and Jason Brown. Minjung Maing has joined the Architecture faculty in a visiting role, adding extensive practical experience to the HPB Masters program in the technical design, realization and forensics of building enclosures. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThrough his national and international engagements, Augenbroe is evangelizing the broad adoption of risk analysis in building performance simulation. One of the issues that his research team encounters is the fact that many malfunctions of building systems cannot be foreseen with our current simulations. This is one of the reasons why his group is focusing on building new simulation models with Modelica--a next generation systems modeling tool--to track potential anomalies in system behavior. The outcomes of this research will help the market to build more resilient HVAC and control systems. PhD student Jason Brown is graduating this spring on a Modelica model of the complex interaction between air flows inside buildings and thermal enclosure properties.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhole-Building Life Cycle Assessment\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAssociate Professor Russell Gentry and Charlene Bayer in GTRI are leading a  multi-disciplinary team with the American Institute of Architects to explore the future of Life Cycle Assessment in building design and construction.  In the future, LCA will help architects identify which building components cause the most environmental impact, and whether the overall impact of a project comes primarily from site selection or ongoing operation of the building.  Through this project the AIA will provide LCA resources for practitioners. The project also will outline ongoing efforts to improve whole-building LCA tools and will provide a vision for the use of LCA in the future.  \u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Faculty and students lead internationally."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EContinuing a twenty-five-year trajectory of research leadership, Tech students and faculty are leading the way in digital design, building simulation and architecture\/engineering\/construction integration.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Faculty and students lead internationally."}],"uid":"27213","created_gmt":"2009-12-15 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:04:08","author":"Teri Nagel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2009-12-15T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2009-12-15T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"49018":{"id":"49018","type":"image","title":"Qatar","body":null,"created":"1449175421","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:43:41","changed":"1475894466","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:06","alt":"Qatar","file":{"fid":"111011","name":"ttd07392.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ttd07392_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ttd07392_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":24567,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/ttd07392_0.jpg?itok=s4PUI2l6"}},"49019":{"id":"49019","type":"image","title":"Interior of the Solar Decathlon House","body":null,"created":"1449175421","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:43:41","changed":"1475894466","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:06","alt":"Interior of the Solar Decathlon House","file":{"fid":"111012","name":"thh07392.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thh07392_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thh07392_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":33146,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/thh07392_0.jpg?itok=eLiZnEEE"}},"49020":{"id":"49020","type":"image","title":"Model for hybrid ventilation studies.","body":null,"created":"1449175421","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:43:41","changed":"1475894466","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:06","alt":"Model for hybrid ventilation studies.","file":{"fid":"111013","name":"tor07559.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tor07559_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tor07559_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":14240,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tor07559_0.jpg?itok=_FA_lN6B"}}},"media_ids":["49018","49019","49020"],"groups":[{"id":"1221","name":"College of Design"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"137","name":"Architecture"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"154","name":"Environment"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"9728","name":"coa research news"},{"id":"8280","name":"green buildings"},{"id":"8277","name":"high performance buildings"},{"id":"8279","name":"master of architecture"},{"id":"8278","name":"ms architecture"},{"id":"167125","name":"sustainable design"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETeri Nagel\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECollege of Architecture\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=tw117\u0022\u003EContact Teri Nagel\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-385-2156\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["teri.nagel@coa.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}